caper

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English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Clipping of capriole.

Noun

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caper (plural capers)

  1. A playful leap or jump.
  2. A jump while dancing.
  3. A prank or practical joke.
  4. (usually in the plural) Playful behaviour.
  5. (figuratively) A crime, especially an elaborate heist, or a narrative about such a crime.
    • 2022, Jennifer Egan, “i, the Protagonist”, in The Candy House:
      His caper had failed to find a comic resolution. Instead, there had been a genre switch, and the madcap adventure had turned serious. Or had this bleakness underlain the caper from the start?
Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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caper (third-person singular simple present capers, present participle capering, simple past and past participle capered)

  1. To leap or jump about in a sprightly or playful manner.
    • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 1]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, [], →OCLC:
      He capered before them down towards the fortyfoot hole, fluttering his winglike hands, leaping nimbly, Mercury’s hat quivering in the fresh wind that bore back to them his brief birdsweet cries.
  2. To jump as part of a dance.
  3. To engage in playful behaviour.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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From Dutch kaper.

Noun

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caper (plural capers)

  1. A vessel formerly used by the Dutch; privateer.
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Etymology 3

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A caper bush.

From Latin capparis, from Ancient Greek κάππαρις (kápparis).

Noun

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caper (plural capers)

  1. The pungent grayish green flower bud of the European and Oriental caper (Capparis spinosa), which is pickled and eaten.
    Synonym: caperberry
  2. A plant of the genus Capparis.
    Synonyms: caper bush, caper tree, caperberry
Derived terms
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Translations
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Further reading

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Etymology 4

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Shortening of capercaillie.

Noun

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caper (plural capers)

  1. (Scotland) The capercaillie.
Translations
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See also

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Anagrams

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French

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Etymology

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From English cap +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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caper

  1. (finance) to cap (set a limit to)
  2. (sports) to cap (award a player a cap for playing for their national team)

Conjugation

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Indonesian

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Etymology

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From blend of cari (seeking) +‎ perhatian (attention), from calque of English attention-seeking.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [ˈt͡ʃapər]
  • Hyphenation: ca‧pêr

Adjective

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capêr

  1. (colloquial, acronym) attention-seeking.

Further reading

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Latin

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Etymology

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caper

From Proto-Italic *kapros, from Proto-Indo-European *kápros (buck, he-goat).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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caper m (genitive caprī, feminine capra); second declension

  1. he-goat (a male goat, a billy goat)
    Synonyms: buccus, hircus

Declension

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Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -er).

Coordinate terms

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Descendants

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  • Italian: capro
  • French: chevron
  • Romanian: capră
  • Portuguese: cabro
  • Spanish: cabro, cabrón
  • Scottish Gaelic: cabar

References

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  • caper”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • caper”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • caper in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • caper”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • caper”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray

Middle French

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin capere.

Verb

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caper

  1. to seize

Conjugation

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  • Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Norwegian Bokmål

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Noun

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caper m

  1. indefinite plural of cape

Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Italian cappero.

Noun

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caper m (plural caperi)

  1. caper (a plant)

Declension

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Swedish

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Noun

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caper

  1. indefinite plural of cape